Princes Street might seem like a bit of a nightmare at the moment, with bad weather, muddy puddles, traffic and Christmas crowds combining to make a simple shopping trip a bit of an ordeal.

And while it's a useful place to buy your pressies, it would be a bit of a stretch to describe the present-day Princes Street as "cool".

However, back in the day, the city's main shopping street was definitely much more stylish and smart than it is today, as we can see in this incredible photograph shared on the Lost Edinburgh page on Facebook - run by Scotsman journalist David Mclean - with the caption:

"Shoppers on Princes Street, late 1950s

This brings to mind L.P. Hartley's classic line: 'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there'.

The image also got a lot of attention on Twitter after being tweeted out by local resident Andy Mackenzie:

The image shows lots of extremely smart people in "Mad Men" style suits and skirts strolling up an unusually bright and cheery looking Princes Street, underneath what appear to be some seriously fancy Christmas decorations that look a little bit like Chinese lanterns.

Everyone looks prosperous and well-dressed, and there are Victorian lampposts in the middle of the street, where the tram tracks can now be found. There are a lot of women in the photo, with carefully curled and set hair, browsing the various shops.

The 1950s were a particularly positive time for women in Scotland. The post-war economic boom meant that there was more cash to spend on household goods, and the newly created welfare state also enhanced the standard of living for women, and reduced poverty.